you're right about theo; he'll never be invited to a menses meeting.but he has developed a knack for consistently signing terrible free agents.it's almost like reverse genius.as for the 6 million for jenks, just add it to the remaining 87 million for SLACKEY, DREW, and CAMERON.hell, is anybody counting anymore?

He reminds me of Eric Gagne inasmuch as both were washed up when Theo acquired them (and lets get over the notion that Mr Epstein is a "genius") and he's on rehab as much as Matsuzaka was the last couple seasons. Six million a year for a setup man, and this is all we get?Posted by davetheknave

Dave,

While it's true Epstein's not a genius, he is a very good baseball GM...The Jenks aquisition is currently on the negetive side of the tally sheet so too is Wheeler, if both rebound and and contribute in the second half and have a strong post season, all will be forgiven, if they don't they'll just replace them with another arm or two...While Jenk's is making 6M, Wheeler 2M, niether are back breaking deals or a contracts that will preclude us from adding another arm...If you balance that with the deals he made with Aceves and Albers, both are on the positive side of the tally sheet, niether of them are making a million, you have to give Theo his due for aquiring both of them...Let's not forget we also got Miller for a song...

What I will say is that the results to date for both Jenks & Wheeler only strengthen the oft cited refrain by Epstein that paying top dollar of free agent middle relief is at best a gamble due to the volitility of performance from year to year andf the risk of injury...Just ask Cashman who has some 25M in bullpen arms on the DL right now with little chance that any of them return before the end of the season...

jenks will pitch well in the second half of the year and all of the troubles in the first half will be forgotten. wheeler is quietly doing a much better job since returning from the DL and so will jenks.

In Response to Re: Will Bobby Jenks contribute to this team? : So says a wishful thinking member of the rfn.Posted by ---The--Babe----

No rebuttal about the Wheeler comment? 2 ER on 9 hits 8K's and 3 BB's in 11.1 IP since returning from the DL poke a hole in your argument a little bit? No one says Theo is perfect, or at least no one in their right mind. Even Theo says he aims for a 60% success rate in his deals. Jenks has been a bust thus far, it's still early in the contract, but so far he hasn't done anything productive. Luckily this is off set by the performances of Aceves, Albers, Hill, and now Miller in the pen... all on the cheap. Building a bullpen is largely a crap shoot, the Sox could have been much worse off were it not for these other moves which no one seems to want to give Theo credit for.

Another shrewd Theo move. It killed the White Sox to have Theo come in and give Jenks a big two year contract. Putz would have turned down a 2 year contract for 14 million, with a player opt out clause after year one. Jenks was the one to get. Theo is simply smarter than the rest.

He reminds me of Eric Gagne inasmuch as both were washed up when Theo acquired them (and lets get over the notion that Mr Epstein is a "genius") and he's on rehab as much as Matsuzaka was the last couple seasons. Six million a year for a setup man, and this is all we get?Posted by davetheknave

Well I guess Theo wasn't as gifted as some hindsight fans are now when he traded for Gagne. At the time Gagne was traded to Boston his stats in the launching pad known as The Ballpark at Arlington were:

That partial season sample is proof that Theo was on top of it. Gagne had a known history of PED use to make sure his injury history didn't pop up again. The numbers, supra, were proof that it was a well thought out move. Scutaro's numbers were solid, too, in 2009. Theo is so smart, he takes the last year and if it's around a career high year, he gets his team in motion.

Dealing for Agon was obvious for all but you. Ortiz was an obvious one year return. Pitching hasn't been good, and will need to get better. Hill was a retread, Aceves had a good history when healthy. If Theo knew what he was doing on the pen and pitching depth, overall pitching depth wouldn't be the same talking point nearly every season.

Why argue with chronic complainers, pessimists, skeptics, and Chicken Littles. It is ridiculous to take them seriously. Their routine never changes. Never happy and always sad. Some might call them trolls.